What topics would the BH readership like to see presented at the "Our Common Future Under Climate Change" International Scientific Conference 7-10 JULY 2015 Paris, France?

The opportunity to submit proposals is open until the end of November.

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Why Participate in this Conference?

This Conference offers the opportunity to take part in the largest scientific event ahead of the UNFCCC COP21 negotiations. The Conference will:

Identify the grand challenges facing the climate change research community and help to establish future priorities for climate change research.

Contribute to the “big-picture synthesis” of cutting-edge climate change research and related global challenges such as biodiversity, energy, renewable/non-renewable resources, health, local and regional disparities.

Design and present science-based solutions ahead of the UNFCCC COP21 negotiations.

Provide a strong interface between science-policy-society on climate change issues and the opportunity for continued engagement among communities leading up to COP21 negotiations and beyond.

http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/site/FR/How_to_Contribute/Why_Participate,C48722,I49319.htm?KM_Session=cb23cc51628bfebd482b2d2cf20ff671

Our Common Future Under Climate Change
Call for parallel sessions
Call for sessions deadline: 30 November 2014 at 22:59 GMT00

http://cfcc.session.y-congress.com/ScientificProcess/submission/index.html?setLng=en
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Will we all be equal in a low carbon future or would some people be more equal than others.

Tiny CO2

In a high carbon present we westerners are definately more equal than others. Human nature being what it is, I doubt this will change.

Whether a low carbon future comes by consensus or is forced on us by fossil fuel depletion, the West will still have the capital and technology to build whatever replaces fossil fuels, while the Third World will not.

EM, yes things will always be unfair, though 100 years from now there is no guarantee who will be rich and who will be poor but the current system relies on the rich nations drastically cutting CO2 and allowing the poor countries a bite of the cherry. Nah, not gonna happen. Even now, arrogant eco freaks are determined that Africa should remain 'unspoilt', which is code for poor. I suspect the rich could be persuaded that that's a good idea.

So if this jamboree was serious, the very least it should do is determine how much CO2 each would be fair. They won't do it beause each and every attendee would fall on the wrong side of the line. And there you have commitment to cutting CO2 in a nutshell - it's something somebody else should do. Cutting CO2 relies on magic solutions and blaming other people. It's a tried and tested route for failure.

A favourite thought amongst warmists is finding a way the make people cut CO2. Taxes and laws are the preferred method. Yeah, you and whose army? Taxes and laws are only as good as those who are prepared to enforce them. In a democracy those rules can be changed and will be changed if the public demand it. It's why the words 'global government' are muttered from time to time and some speak enviously of the totalitarian regimes where the leadership can make their people do as they're told. The public won't be forced where they really don't want toi go. The Brits have a big welfare state and free health service because they're something we feel should be there albeit in a better form. We pay some green taxes because it's thought to be a good idea but the level of hardship and cost involved in signifiantly cutting CO2 is exponentially harder. You can't get that level of co-operation on vague feelings of self sacrifice towards others or amorphous pessimism for the future. Transformation cannot be lead by those who least understand the level of commitment needed and who are least likely to be affected by any hardships.

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The Conference is organized around the following daily themes:

Day 1: State of Knowledge on Climate Change: Bringing together the latest knowledge from both natural and social sciences, this day addresses the cross-cutting issues related to observed changes in the climate system. It explores drivers and impacts, including GHG emissions, climate variability, extreme events, and physical-ecological-social interactions, connecting both advances and gaps in knowledge across sectors and regions.

Day 2: Scenarios Exploring Our Common Future: Looking at future scenarios in the context of the climate change, this day explores possible impacts across and between systems and sectors both in the medium (2030-2050) and long term (2070 and beyond). Contrasted scenarios are investigated as well as their consequences on the interactions between physical, ecological and human systems. An emphasis is placed on examining risks and uncertainties, thresholds and tipping points.

Day 3: Responding to Climate Change Challenges: This day addresses mitigation and adaptation options, highlighting scientific and technological breakthroughs and discussing barriers, trade-offs, co-benefits, risks and feedbacks. It explores local and regional responses, and discusses pathways for integration across sectors and stakeholders, emphasizing the need for bottom-up approaches that will be explored through the examples of local and regional case studies.

Day 4: Collective Action and Transformative Solutions: This final day of the conference explores transformative solutions to climate change from a cross-sectoral perspective in order to reach integrated solutions especially through collaboration. This includes solutions across a range of disciplines, sectors and stakeholders that encompass technological, institutional, economic and behavioural changes that will lead to transformative pathways to climate change challenges, from the near to long term, and at multiple scales.

http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/site/FR/The_Conference/Conference_Vision,C48920,I48920.htm?KM_Session=304408b3c17f85f18ca14afb6313d394
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Through Plenaries and Parallel Sessions, all major issues are explored through overarching daily themes, with a focus on moving from present knowledge to future solutions. Ahead of COP21 and with post-2015 in sight, the Conference offers a forum for scientists, policy-makers, businesses, NGOs, youth and the media, to debate the research agenda for the coming years.

A large emphasis is placed on exploring climate change issues through transdisciplinary and integrative approaches, underscoring the need for solutions that cut across sectors and systems and that join stakeholders and communities. The Conference sessions encourage multi-disciplinary and multi-lateral thinking to explore the wide range of topics that cut across climate change issues, from physical feedbacks to social and economic impacts. The Conference sessions offer a broad base for examining a multitude of issues covering the complex and inter-related science-human aspects of climate change.

Each day, there will be a maximum of 24 Parallel Sessions available. Parallel Sessions will be organized in standard time slots of 1h30, but motivated proposals for longer duration will be considered. Due to time constraints, please note that the number of sessions using more than three time slots will be very limited.

Submissions need to be relevant to the overarching theme of the day selected and cover related topics while keeping a broad viewpoint in mind. In the event that your session may be relevant to the topics of the different conference days, please submit a session proposal per day, explaining its relevance to that particular day.

http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/site/FR/How_to_Contribute/Parallel_Sessions,C48920,I49318.htm?KM_Session=304408b3c17f85f18ca14afb6313d394
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So, if I'm reading all the above correctly, my initial proposals for parallel sessions would meet the criteria of Day One.

In no particular order, I'd like to see these topics presented:

1) Shortcomings in Global Circulation Models - perhaps by Sandrine Bony and Bjorn Stevens

2) Shortcomings in proxy reconstructions - perhaps by Steve McIntyre

3) Historic climate variations - perhaps by TonyB

4) Uncertainty in Climate Science - perhaps by Judith Curry

5) Theoretical approaches to climate sensitivity - perhaps by Nic Lewis

I do have thoughts on topics relevant to the later days, such as Steve Koonin on the impacts of regret investment related to poor policy, but I need to do somemore thinking and checking on this.

I'd still like to hear the BH readerships views - perhaps it is a big stretch but I'd hope it is not impossible that "alternative" views could get aired at this conference. Some interested policy makers must be getting at least a hint that all is not as settled as they have been led to believe.